19th Amendment (1 results)

Senator Aaron A. Sargent, author of the original language for the 19th Amendment Original Autograph Letter Signed with Steel engraving, single sheet. Engraved portrait of Senator Aaron A. Sargent (1827-1887), Republican of California, remembered as the legislator who first introduced the language that would eventually become the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. On January 10, 1878, Sargent presented to the Senate a bill containing 29 words that would ultimately enfranchise women: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." This wording, reintroduced every year for the next forty years, finally passed in 1919 and was ratified in 1920. Sargent's advocacy for suffrage was inseparable from the activism of his wife, Ellen Clark Sargent (1826-1911). A leading voting rights advocate in her own right, Ellen was president of the California Woman Suffrage Association, treasurer of the National Woman Suffrage Association, and an intimate ally of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Only a year after his introduction of the Women Suffrage bill, He writes from Cairo IL in 1879, to a Mr Brown, He writes in his hand; "home protection will be my subject, Evanston Illinois, will be my address" and He then asks that his" letters be promptly forwarded" He will "arrive July 3rd, if there is no objection". Light toning and faint foxing, otherwise well-preserved with strong plate impression. Overall Very Good. Signed.